crossword 3:53
meta 0:05
hello everyone, and welcome to episode #327 of matt gaffney’s weekly crossword contest. september is guest constructor month, and this week we have meta master jeffrey harris with his robin williams tribute puzzle, “Fly, Robin, Fly”. for this week 1 puzzle, jeffrey tells us that the answer to this meta is my favorite Robin Williams movie, which (with an extra space and a hyphen) could serve as an alternate title for this puzzle.. interesting. what are the theme answers? there are 5 goofy robin williams movies in the grid:
- {Robin Williams movie about … a wild canine?} JACKAL.
- {… how long it takes to get a picture with Shaq?} O’NEAL-HOUR PHOTO.
- {… Mindy, after she decided to quit acting and take up angling?} THE FISHER KALING.
- {… a document granting filming rights in a wooded area?} LICENSE TO WEALD. apparently WEALD is a place name here. according to my dictionary, it’s “a formerly wooded district of southeastern England that included parts of Kent, Surrey, and East Sussex.”
- {… pointing and laughing?} HA, LOOK.
so i take it that these are all robin williams movies with AL added in. i’m pretty sure THE FISHER KING is a robin williams movie, definitely HOOK is, and i feel like JACK probably is too. not sure about LICENSE TO WED or ONE-HOUR PHOTO, but what else can it be? anyway, from the instructions, the meta answer we’re looking for is ALADDIN, parsed as AL ADD-IN. neat! probably good will hunting is my favorite robin williams movie, but aladdin is pretty good too.
jeffrey is a expert at cryptic crosswords (well, and every other kind of wordplay), and this is a nice reinterpretation of an iconic robin williams film title. i enjoyed it. the grid structure is a little ungainly, with the 14-letter theme answers
tidbits:
- {Iggy of pop, or a shrub} AZALEA. still waiting to see CHARLI XCX in a crossword.
- {“srsly!?”} WTF. omg. rly?
- {Toyota sedan} AVALON. possible tie-in with the fisher king, a figure from arthurian legend. (i don’t know what the movie the fisher king is about, though.)
- {“Jakob the ___” (Robin Williams movie unrelated to this theme)} LIAR. haven’t heard of that one.
- {Someone in the field of vision?} OPTOMETRIST. great clue for the only long fill answer in the grid.
- {Glam rocker Marc} BOLAN. never heard of this guy.
- {Confetti-throwing “Hollywood Squares” regular} RIP TAYLOR. or this guy.
- {“Those ___ pillows!” (“Planes, Trains & Automobiles” quote)} AREN’T. i’ll take your word for it.
fun start. i’m looking forward to more of guest constructor month!
Hey Jeffrey, nice job on the puzzle – very enjoyable. Took me a lot longer than 4 mins. on the puzzle and 5 seconds on the meta :-). Nice aha moment when it finally clicked. Thanks!
Thanks, Jeff, and thank you to joon for the write-up! :)
655 right answers this week. Thanks, Jeffrey!
Grrr…between our work computers being switched into the cloud and catching a bug yesterday, I forgot about submitting. So Jangler is not only a streakmaker, he’s a streakbreaker.
apparently WEALD is a place name here. according to my dictionary, it’s “a formerly wooded district of southeastern England that included parts of Kent, Surrey, and East Sussex.”
Merriam-Webster, e.g., gives “a heavily wooded area : forest”, so it works fine as a common noun, unless you were inferring from the lack of article.
Somewhat a facetious question, but does jangler’s streak continue given he made the puzzle?
You’re either on the board or you’re not ….